On Target

A popular pre-season pick to repeat as AL Central champions, the Twins have had nothing short of a disastrous season. On June 1, the Tigers completed a sweep of the Twins at home, dropping Minnesota to 17-37 (.315) and 16.5 games back in last place. The Twins perked up a bit from there, going 33-22 (.600) in June and July and cutting their deficit in the division to five games on July 20, but they were playing over their heads during those two months as they allowed as many runs as they scored during that span and never got above fourth place. They have since returned to their early-season level, playing .286 ball in August and falling 10.5 games back in the Central, which seems closer to their actual level. According to third-order wins, only the Astros have been worse this season, and a quick look at the Twins roster shows little reason to expect them to pull out of their current slump.

To begin with, the Twins had Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the lineup at the same time in just eight of their first 117 games. They went 2-6 in those games, two of them coming against the Yankees in early April, both losses. With Morneau being activated from the disabled list on Friday, the Twins have now had Mauer and Morneau in the lineup in each of the last five games, but have won just two of them, scoring a total of four runs in the other three. It’s too early to know what to expect from Morneau, who hit .226/.281/.338 through early June before hitting the disabled list with a herniated disc in his neck that required surgery later that month. Mauer, who missed two months early in the season with bilateral weakness in his legs, a neurological condition effecting the strength of his leg muscles, has hit just .289/.356/.353 since his return in mid-June and has started behind the plate on four consecutive days just once since then and three consecutive days on just two other occasions.

114 comments

Joe Mauer is playing right field tonight. Seriously. He’s never played a position other than catcher and first base (and DH) in his career according to Baseball-Reference, and I’m talking majors and minors. Mauer’s an absurd athlete and I’m sure he’s shagged fly balls in right a bunch of times over the years, but this is still kinda crazy. Furthermore, the Twinkies have no bench. Michael Cuddyer (neck), Denard Span (concussion symptoms), and Matt Tolbert (something) are all banged up, Jason Kubel is away from the team for family reasons, and Luke Hughes missed his flight from Triple-A today (because he was at the wrong gate). So they don’t have anyone to come off the bench, not even in an emergency.

Granderson seemed to get a slow jump on the ball. It seems to be happening a lot this year where he starts in one direction and then has to correct his path. I wonder if that is why he has a lower defensive rating this year.

42) People are divided about it. I never got that Barton Fink feeling. Really disliked that movie and saw it a few times. I "get it" but it didn't move me. "A Serious Man" could be a movie that would be irritating as hell, just tortuous to watch. But for some reason I really liked it, even though it was cold in some ways. I don't think it's just a Jewish thing, but I simply fond it very droll, inventive and weird. In some ways it's the ultimate Coen's movie, it's the Coen's-concentrated, which is why it's not for everyone.

[44] I like most of the Coen Bros films (except that awful one with Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones). I remember huge film-geek argyments abotu Barton Fink in college..people get passionate about that film one way or the other.

[44] Huh. Barton Fink isn't my "favorite" Coen Brothers' film, that would be The Big Lebowski, but I'm not at all hesitant in calling it the one I think is their best. Probably Top 10 all time for me, easily Top 20.

The thing about Coen Brothers' films that I learned over the years, from seeing them all and talking about them with people is that because they are so damn idiosyncratic and affected that most of them really come down personal taste and how you react to what it is they're trying to assimilate and recreate.

A lot of people really didn't like Intolerable Cruelty, but I really enjoyed it, even though I'd never call it anything other than slight. Some people really liked Burn After Reading, whereas for me, only the existence of The Ladykillers keeps that completely laughless debacle from being their worst.

[64] Lupica on the radio?? That must be insufferable..I can truly say I am happy to never be exposed to sports tlak radio over here. Tried ESPN on the web once, couldn't get past 10mins of Mike&Mike or Colon Cowherd, just unlistenable trash.

[68] Yes, that's the worst kind of idiot.[69] It was. He was just a guest, you understand, being interviewed.
We have one local station that's pretty good. The morning crew has a great weekly segment: "Ask a Pink Hat". They find a Sox fan coming out of Fenway after a game wearing a pink Red Sox hat and ask them questions. Well, ask her questions, it's always a woman. It's very funny.

[70] Lupica actually has a regular slot on the NY ESPN station, just before Michael Kay's slot. Talk about a cavalcade of migraine inducement. If you think Kay is annoying doing play by play, on his show he is a huge bag of noxious gas stinking up the NY metro.

72) Funny thing about the last part is that it is completely true to the book. I wasn't really spooked by Bardem's performance. It was written to be memorable and he did a good job for sure but it wasn't extra creepy to me. The haircut was really good though.